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Topic: NEAF Notes (Read 1400 times)

I spent today at NEAF in Suffern, NY. To expand, NEAF is the North Eastern Astronomy Forum. It runs today and tomorrow, and has all sorts of interesting things going on, from workshops to prize draws, lectures to observing parties. There's also amazing equipment to lust after, much of which leaves camera gear waaaaay behind price wise.

Canon typically has a stand at the show (this was my sixth and I can't recall them not being there) and this year was no different. Manning the stand was none other than Chuck Westfall! I chatted with him for a little while - he really is a terrifically pleasant man - and he let me affix some of the lovely high-end glass on display to my 7D.

I also was able to play around with the 1Dx they had. Now, I love my 7D, but it paled in comparison to the 1Dx. The build quality is simply superb, the viewfinder the biggest and brightest I have ever experienced, the user interface well-designed, and the feeling in the hand wonderful. It was how I imagine Bentleys feel when you're used to a family sedan. Of course, for $6800 I'd expect no less.

While I was there, a lot of people came up and tried various ways of getting Chuck and the other gentleman (whose name I don't recall) to spill the beans on future products. They were probing for info on full frame high MP offerings, on EVIL options and other things we discuss here. Well, Chuck and his coworker were polite but firm: "we can't say anything". I think they were getting a little tired of the questions to be honest...

So, no new info here. Just wanted to relate what I saw. Oh, one more thing: there was a 60Da there, but no one seemed interested (and this was an astronomy crowd, remember); everyone made for the 1Dx then the 5D3 then the L glass, in that order. Maybe it was different later. The guy next to me wanted to know if he could have a 5D3 specially made with no AA filter. That was a no....